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Dialogue/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim & Moby. Cassie and Rita swimming in the ocean. As Tim reads, the text he speaks appears in the background. TIM: Cassie and Rita were at the beach that day. As they sat in the water, they were surprised to see a large shark fin crossing in front of them. A large shark fin passes in front of the two women, and they watch it go by. TIM: Excited, Cassie turned to Rita and said, "Whoa, did you see the size of that fin?" The screen shifts to Tim sitting at a computer, Moby looks over Tim's shoulder and laughs. MOBY: Beep! Beep! TIM: What? Don't you read your writing out loud? A letter appears on the screen, which Tim reads aloud. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, how do I write dialogue? From, Sonja. When you write what a character says using their exact words, it's called dialogue. Dialogue appears in comic books, screenplays, novels, newspaper articles—pretty much anywhere you see stories in print. Four pictures appear on the screen: three comic books in the upper-left corner, a screenplay in the upper-right corner, a book in the lower-left corner, and a newspaper in the lower-right corner. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, the way that dialogue is written depends on its context. In comics, dialogue often appears in word balloons. A word balloon appears over Tim with a transcription of what he just said inside. Moby grabs the word balloon and runs away. Tim sighs. TIM: He's always taking my stuff. In screenplays, or scripts for things like films and TV shows, dialogue shows up centered, right under the name of the character doing the talking. A script appears on the screen with text written on it. Cassie and Rita are sitting in the water at the beach. A large shark fin crosses the water in front of them. CASSIE: "Whoa! Did you see the size of that fin?" Cassie and Rita watch the shark fin nervously. RITA: "Let's get out of here." TIM: But let's focus on dialogue that appears in prose, the kind of writing found in novels, newspaper and magazine articles, and all those writing assignments you do for school. Text appears on the wall behind Tim. Text reads: Then Tim said, "In prose writing, dialogue is put in quotation marks." TIM: In prose writing, dialogue is put into quotation marks. To make it clear who’s saying the dialogue, we add a speech tag. That's just any phrase that identifies the speaker, like "Then Tim said,". While Tim is speaking, Moby erases the dialogue and leaves "Then Tim said," on the wall behind him to illustrate a speech tag. The following three examples appear on the screen. • John said, "Let’s go to the park." • "I don’t want to go to the park." answered Billy. • "If we go to the park," said John, "we can play football." TIM: These can go before, after, or in the middle of a line of dialogue. When Tim says "before", the text "John said" is highlighted. When Tim says "after", the text "answered Billy" is highlighted. When Tim says "middle," the text "said John" is highlighted. MOBY: Beep! TIM: Well, whenever a different character starts speaking, you need to start a new paragraph. Sample text appears on the screen. Text reads: Tim turned to Moby and said, "You're going to have to start a new paragraph after I stop talking." Moby turned to Tim and replied, "Beep?" "Because I said so!" Tim answered. As Tim is talking, the dialogue on the screen is separated into three paragraphs. Text reads: Tim turned to Moby and said, "You're going to have to start a new paragraph after I stop talking." Text reads: Moby turned to Tim and replied, "Beep?" Text reads: "Because I said so!" Tim answered. MOBY: Beep! TIM: Oh, yeah, there are some other rules, too. Check out our features to find out more! The most important thing, though, is to make sure your dialogue sounds natural—like something people would actually say in real life. Cassie and Rita reappear in the water with the shark fin in front of them. A word balloon appears over Cassie, and Tim reads it aloud. TIM: "It is a shark." See, while "It is a shark." may be grammatically correct, it's not really something Cassie would say, or anybody else, for that matter. Plus, we can see the fin, so Cassie doesn’t need to tell us it's there. You want a character's words to reveal her personality? I know that Cassie's really into sharks, so she should sound more excited. Cassie and Rita reappear in the water with the shark fin swimming in front of them. The word balloon over Cassie's head changes, and Tim reads it aloud. TIM: "Whoa! Did you see the size of that fin?" Much better! The same thing goes for Rita's line. A word balloon appears over Rita’s head, and Tim reads it aloud. TIM: "I think we should go." She's the sensible one, so it makes sense that she wants to leave. But we can add more force to her feelings by having her say... The word balloon over Rita’s head changes, and Tim reads it aloud. TIM: "Let’s get out of here!" Okay, so they begin to swim away, and then you pop out of the water with a shark fin on your back and say, "Beep!" and the girls say together, "You tricked us!" and... Cassie and Rita move away from the shark fin. Moby appears in the water wearing a shark fin on his back. A word bubble appears above him that reads "Beep!" A word bubble appears above Cassie and Rita that reads "You tricked us!" MOBY: Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Moby shakes his head. TIM: What do you mean, you would never say that? You said, "Beep!" That’s what you say! Moby shakes his head again. MOBY: Beep! Beep! Moby lifts both of his arms in the air in protest. TIM: Oh, Moby... you're so complex. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP English Transcripts